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Glite Dictionary
🚫 To overrule 🔧 A control switch 🕹️ To take control 🐎 To overwork a horse
to override

to override

48 7.2
To take manual control of an automatic system, for example a car's gears
  • verb
  • /ˌoʊvərˈraɪd/
  • Specialized
translation icon : anular
  • To drive the car in manual mode, you need to override the automatic gear shift.

Instead of reflexively clutching your purse or overriding your reflexes, you might breathe and relax and be able to respond in a more natural manner.

Examples

  • Webs, is there some way to override the truck's navigation system?

    The Bad Guys (2022)

  • They're overriding the system.

    Independence Day (1996)

  • "I think I can override his control from here if I have to.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • Whoever has this has the power to override their whole system.

    Elysium (2013)

  • In case of emergency, pilot may become an advanced user in order to override some security settings.

    A.I. Rising (2018)

  • However, you can override the inputs and then control the entire thing through USB.

  • You can override the elevators from here or shut them down completely.

    Tower Heist (2011)

  • The system's pretty primitive, but I think I can override the cutoff.

    Noxious (2021)

  • Somehow he's overriding the system's priorities.

    RoboCop (2014)

  • When you eat in groups, social facilitation can help override your brain's normal signals of satiety.

    Blog text (34)

Antonyms

to automate
52 4.0

Make a process or job run by machines such as computers instead of people

How Manual

to override
  • Specialized
48 7.2
to intervene
197 5.0
self-acting
  • Specialized
6.7
automaticity
  • Specialized
7.7

Surface Forms

override infinitive
overriding present participle
overrides third person singular
overrode past
overridden past participle

Morphology

override = ride (transparent) = over + ride

This sense is a clear compositional meaning 'take control over' an automatic system: 'over' (over, above/take control) + 'ride' (control), so learners can plausibly infer it from the parts.

Etymology

Override can mean to switch off an automatic system and control it by hand; the parts over- 'above' and ride 'to control' help you remember that you 'go above' the machine's control to operate it yourself.